Aer Lingus - 5

[ayroplain]

I wonder what an A330 EI-ORD was doing in LHR at about 9.30pm last evening (2nd July) parked just up from the EI/bmi stands.
A friend was at DUB yesterday morning and he saw the same a/c operate a flight to Faro - well, he says it pushed back OK but not too long after was pulled back onto the same stand and doesn't know if it actually flew to Faro in the end.

[840]

Services to Heathrow have been operated by A330, especially when flights have been cancelled and there's a backlog of passengers to clear. Less often, it happens around exceptionally busy periods like Christmas.

Seeing that there's no reason Dublin-London should have been extra busy yesterday, does anyone know if there were cancelled flights?

[Jippie]

Coming back to the fact that EI has slots for thrice daily flights this winter at EIN.
They have 3 slots a day to LGW. I guess they won't use the other 2.

[FlyingFromTheUK]

Recuritment

Hi People

Was wondering if anyone could help me with the tele phone number for the recuritment team, please!

I sent my application off but forgot to add in the second sheet of my 5yr history for ID pass and just wanted to elve a voice mail to inform them of this as i am off on holiday tomorrow for a week

Any info would be geat, please!

Cheers

[Seljuk22]

June traffic

Passengers: 1,030,000 +7.5%
Load factor: 81.3% -0.2 pp

[840]

The devil is in the detail in those figures

Short Haul: +11%
Long Haul: -14.2%

It doesn't look quite so bad on load factor

Short Haul: 82%
Long Haul: 80%

Anyone know how much (as a percentage of total) extra short haul capacity was added at Gatwick?

[MUFC_fan]

Thats fantastic, not just the change in short haul figures, but the load factors are looking good.

I know revenue is down at the moment and that is the main figure needed but all airlines have low revenue at the moment, especially across Europe and the Atlantic so having higher load factors at least means some money is coming in!

[Skipness One Echo]

so having higher load factors at least means some money is coming in!

....but with no yield upon which to comment upon the figure is meaningless until any profit statemens appear in the financials. I can sell you all a fiver for a quid and do a lot of business and still end up very poor.

[BFS101]

Not to get political with potential sensitive issue but was on aerlingus.com to book flights from Belfast. On the pull down menu selected UK, from the countries list. Belfast not listed??? Thought maybe then listed under Ireland, no, not listed either??? Belfast folk get a whole seperate Northern Ireland category. We are such a bizarre nation after all...

Now my point, not to make a mountain out of a molehill, but for ease of use, not better to just include it under UK, or both UK and Ireland if sensitivies are an issue. Took me a while to scan down all the countries listed, in fairness not that many, to find Northern Ireland. Bit misleading if quick scan under UK, don't see Belfast and off you pop to another airline to book.

[Captain Flynn]

New Aer Lingus CEO to be announced at 5PM

Hi Folks,

Just got this ! My friend in the media just txt me to say he is on way out to Dublin Airport for a "major announcement" which is expected at around 5PM from Aer Lingus. He believes it is announcement of a new CEO. Fax to newsroom came from Aer Lingus PR dept this morning. Standby for updates.............

CPT Flynn

[boyzinblue]

Maybe Willie Walsh will come back from BA!!

[racedo]

Probably the CFO is new boss.

[colegate]

I find it strange that anyone could think that EIN can afford any long haul expansion anywhere. They are bleeding red ink and any new long haul route would turn the bleeding into a haemmorage.

[burble]

A well thought out post. Any facts there to support your hypothesis or are you just spouting for its own sake?
I can't think of many airlines making any money right now even the all powerful Ryanair lost millions and millions this year. So should everyone just curl up and die or should just maybe companies use this time to maintain and grow market share while exploring new options at good prices?

[racedo]

A well thought out post. Any facts there to support your hypothesis or are you just spouting for its own sake?
I can't think of many airlines making any money right now even the all powerful Ryanair lost millions and millions this year. So should everyone just curl up and die or should just maybe companies use this time to maintain and grow market share while exploring new options at good prices?

Dunno Aer Lingus AGM where Barrington said he was unable to give any forecast on the scale of losses in 2009, their own statements at Annual results in March stating they would at a minimum use of 200 million of their cash and this was when they figured they would make a small loss are probably good placesm to start.

Then again Hedged at $900 plus per Tonne when Oil below $600 is also another place to look.

Being unable to shed staff without massive pay offs also an indication of problems.

[burble]

Yes and Mr O'Leary thought he'd make a profit this year and got it spectacularly wrong, so perhaps being realistic in ones predictions when they are based on shifting sands is more honest.
You claim to know the industry but you miss the point of hedging? I've lost all confidence in your posts as you clearly have an agenda. Fuel hedging is a long term game you can't simply point the finger and cry foul when it ges on way its that short term thinking that cost Ryanair dear last year.
I checked up on your last point. Your information is wrong. There have been no fare well packages for some time and none are planned.
Have the courage to declare your interest and stop embellishing your posts with fabrication. Burble

[TartinTon]

To be fair burble, Ryanair actually got their hedging (or lack of) strategy almost completely right compared to most other carriers. Now, whether this was down to pure dumb luck or design is a point of discussion but they got burned for only 3 months of the year up to Jan. After that time they have a massive cost advantage over virtually all their competitiors who hedged at what are now suicidally high rates.

Luck of the Irish, maybe?

[akerosid]

So, what was the press release expected from EI at 5pm yesterday (Friday, 10/7); are we any closer to knowing who the new CEO will be?

I agree that new routes are most unlikely now, until EI gets a handle on the kind of long haul carrier it wants to be. Despite the current downturn, it actually has a lot of advantages to work with:

- Arguably the best aircraft in its class, the A330
- Open Skies
- US pre-clearance (immigration and - soon - customs)
- T2 coming up, so much easier connections

Downside:

- Very little imagination; almost always "following the pack", never an innovator
- Short haul aircraft too big to be effective in hub/spoke operations; a smaller aircraft (c.100 seater, with better seat mile costs than FR's 738s) would allow EI to offer convenient connections, but also to improve performance of some European routes (frequency, for example).

Hopefully the new CEO can add a little zest, taking a leaf out of the books of players like Jetstar and Air Asia; as the world emerges from recession, people will be more value conscious and the airlines that cop onto this soonest will be better off. Should EI, for example, be sticking with its current J Class product, or considering a Premium Economy product, to supplement a "no frills", 9 abreast Y Class?

Whatever they decide to do, if EI wants to be a serious player on long haul, they need to do something fairly quickly.

[Just a spotter]

EI have been unable to make a decision on long haul for ages.

Back in 2003 The Times in the UK reported they were bunnies caught in the headlights of the then impending Open Skies Agreement.

During the boom years in Ireland, several long haul destinations, both business and tourist, seemed viable even on a couple of fights a week basis, such as Cape Town, Las Vegas, Toronto, perhaps even the Caribbean and certainly something in Asia with a potential hop to Aus/NZ. Yet they stuck with just the US and a foray to Dubai. Perhaps not wanting to reduce load factor on the LHR traffic feeding other airlines on those routes was a consideration.

Eitherway, if EI is to spread its wings on long haul in the current environment then they need to decide on the crewing practices that will be the platform on which the routes are based and sell that to the unions. Get that right and with an acceptable product to sell at the right price and even in tough times there may very well be viable new routes.

JAS

[MCDU2]

Eitherway, if EI is to spread its wings on long haul in the current environment then they need to decide on the crewing practices that will be the platform on which the routes are based and sell that to the unions. Get that right and with an acceptable product to sell at the right price and even in tough times there may very well be viable new routes.

I am intrigued by your comment about crewing. I would assume you are referring to flight crew. On the transatlantic the only flights that have (had) 3 flight crew were the west coast. JFK/BOS/ORD etc are all 2 crew with a single overnight for the most part. There is the occasional 2/3 night longstop but that is down to rostering and to fit into the schedule and nothing to do with unions or pilot requests etc.

Generally they will leave today get there in the afternoon US time then return the following afternoon and fly through the night for an early morning arrival back at DUB/SNN. A little over minimum rest. MCO is generally 2 crew and only in exceptional circumstances when the block hours I think go beyond 8.5 hours will they take a 3rd pilot. The company doesn't want to give you a 3rd pilot so there is usually a stand off at the 11th hour to get the extra crew member. It is not unusual for the crews to receive flight plans which route directly through a thunderstorm in order to get the block hours within limits. Do you honestly think that it is safe for 2 guys to fly for 9-10 hours etc with one taking rest and the other person working away on their lonesome and then expect them to both be fully fit for an approach and landing at the end of it. You should check out what the FAA deems acceptable in these circumstances.

To think that crewing can determine whether a route is profitable or not is plain balmy. Do the maths for yourself. Sell a single extra seat and you will no doubt cover the cost of an extra flight crew member (usually an f/o). You will also reduce the risk of people going out of hours and the inevitable knock on effects that this have to the schedule never mind the costs involved of a cancellation.

This is the sort of bollocks that gets spouted from management to defend how they only fly to 1 country since adam was a babe. More like get in some fresh blood with vision that want to drive the business forward and have extensive experience in new route generation rather than peddling out the same old tired arguments. The pilots have for years been putting forward suggestions along the lines of those mentioned previously for new routes. No one wants to hear. In the meantime you only have to look at the success of the middle east operators at Dublin airport to see what potential there was for long haul destinations.